Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Part 1 of 3: Military Nurses in The
Part 1 of 3: Military Nurses in The
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Military Nurses in the
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Part 1 of 3
Members of the 4th Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade, load casualties aboard a
UH-1D (Dust Off) helicopter to be extracted from Hill 875, located 15 miles south-
west of Dak To, in preparation for the final assault. Republic of Vietnam, November
22, 1967. Photo by SSG Alfred Batungbacal. U.S. Army photo, National Archives
An aerial view of the 93rd Evacuation Hospital. The helipad of the 45th Air
MAJ Patricia McIntyre ANC, Chief Anesthetist, 93rd Evacuation Hospital, gives anesthesia to a patient before an operation, Long Binh, Vietnam, June 28, 1967. Ambulance Medical Company is in the background. Long Binh, Vietnam,
Photo by SSG Howard C. Breedlove. U.S. Army photo, National Archives November 10, 1969. Photo by LT Berlin. U.S. Army photo, National Archives
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Part 2 of 3
Renowned for their ingenuity, compassionate care, and leadership The vast majority of nurses who served in Vietnam were
volunteers. A tour of duty was 12 months with the nurses
abilities, military nurses in Vietnam treated 153,303 wounded warriors. working an average of six days per week, 12-hour shifts,
The expert quality care provided by military nurse corps officers greatly and longer when mass casualties came in from battle. In
addition to their primary mission, nurse corps officers often
contributed to the fact that 97.4 percent of wounded service members spent off duty time as members of Medical Civic Action
admitted to military hospitals survived. Program (MEDCAP) teams providing out-patient health
care services to South Vietnamese in outlying villages,
battlefield. Artillery, mortars, high velocity bullets, rocket hamlets, and orphanages. Whether stationed with training
propelled grenades, booby traps, punji sticks, and claymore units, in hospitals, on planes, or aboard ships, in the Pacific
mines all inflicted vicious multiple wounds. Trauma care Theater, or the United States, military nurses served with
specialization as well as shock/trauma units were developed distinction throughout the Vietnam War caring for U.S.
from this experience. military personnel, Allied troops, and civilians.
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Part 3 of 3
Army nurses, assigned to the 85th Evacuation Hospital in Qui Nhon, arrive in
Vietnam aboard the transport ship USNS Barrett, September 1, 1965. Front:
First Lieutenant Joan Schwerman. Back row, left to right: First Lieutenants
Navy Nurse LCDR Dorothy Ryan checks the medical chart of Marine Cpl Roy Hadaway aboard the hospital ship USS Repose off South Vietnam. LCDR Ryan is Kathleen Gilluly, Sharon Forman (later Bystran), and Mary Rum (later Caspers).
one of 29 nurses aboard the hospital ship selected from 500 volunteers of the Navy Nurse Corps, April 22, 1966. U.S. Navy photo, National Archives Sharon (Forman) Bystran Collection, Women’s Memorial Foundation Collection
Military nurse corps officers in Vietnam ranged from novice clinicians Navy Nurse Corps, became the first woman in the Navy to
be promoted (on June 1, 1972) to the rank of rear admiral
in their early twenties, who recently graduated from the Officer Basic (lower half ), the Navy’s equivalent to brigadier general. The
Course, to seasoned veterans. Possessing a broad range of clinical first Chief, Air Force Nurse Corps to be promoted (on July
1, 1972) to brigadier general was E. Ann Hoefly.* Another
experience and leadership skills, military nurses quickly learned the noteworthy development created through legislation during
technical skills necessary to be proficient war time nurses. the Vietnam War was the opportunity for male nurses to
apply for regular commissions in the military nurse corps.
Three illustrations of military nurses’ exemplary courage selfless act of valor “in a humanitarian interest performed in
Ten military nurse corps officers died while serving in
under fire: In 1964, a Viet Cong saboteur bombed the Brink connection with aircraft.”
Vietnam—nine Army and one Air Force Nurse Corps officers:
Bachelor Officer’s Quarters in Saigon. Four Navy Nurse
Key federal legislation impacting women in the military was Second Lieutenants Carol Ann Drazba and Elizabeth Jones of
Corps officers, Lieutenants Ruth A. Mason (Wilson), Frances
enacted during the Vietnam War. One outcome was the the 3rd Field Hospital died in a helicopter crash on February
Crumpton, Barbara J. Wooster, and Lieutenant Junior Grade
opening of senior officer ranks to women. Anna Mae V. 18, 1966, near Saigon; Captain Eleanor G. Alexander and
Ann D. Reynolds, selflessly cared for the multiple victims
Hays, Chief, Army Nurse Corps, was the first female general First Lieutenant Jerome E. Olmstead of the 85th Evacuation
even though they themselves were wounded. These officers
officer in U.S. history. She was promoted to the rank of Hospital, and First Lieutenants Hedwig D. Orlowski and
were the first females to be awarded the Purple Heart Medal
brigadier general on June 11, 1970. Alene B. Duerk, Chief, Kenneth R. Shoemaker of the 67th Evacuation Hospital
for action in Vietnam, “an honor bestowed in the name
perished in a plane crash near Qui Nhon on November 30,
of the President of the United States to service members
1967; Second Lieutenant Pamela D. Donovan of the 85th
wounded or killed as a result of combat.” First Lieutenant
Evacuation Hospital, Qui Nhon, died of pneumonia on
Diane M. Lindsay, an Army Nurse Corps officer stationed at
July 8, 1968, while undergoing treatment at the hospital;
the 95th Evacuation Hospital in Da Nang, was awarded the
Lieutenant Colonel Annie R. Graham, Chief Nurse, 91st
Soldier’s Medal in 1970 for valiantly restraining a distraught
Evacuation Hospital, Tuy Hoa and a veteran of WWII and
soldier who had thrown a live grenade. Many additional
the Korean War, died in Japan on August 14, 1968, a few
casualties were prevented by the quick interventions of 1LT
days after suffering a stroke; First Lieutenant Sharon A. Lane,
Lindsay and a male officer who, while subduing the soldier,
the only nurse killed by hostile enemy fire, died of shrapnel
convinced him to turn over a second grenade. 1LT Lindsay
wounds sustained during an enemy rocket attack on June 8,
was the first African-American woman to be presented the
1969, while she was on duty at the 312th Evacuation Hospital,
Soldier’s Medal, “the highest honor a soldier can receive for
Chu Lai; and the last military nurse to die in Vietnam was Air
an act of valor in a non-combat situation.” On April 4,
Force Captain Mary T. Klinker of the 10th Air Evacuation
1975, First Lieutenant Regina C. Aune, an Air Force flight
Squadron. Captain Klinker perished aboard a C-5A Galaxy
nurse with the 10th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, was
that crashed on April 4, 1975, during Operation Babylift.
severely wounded as the C-5A Galaxy she was aboard crashed
The names of these brave military nurses are included on the
near Ton Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam. 1Lt Aune and
Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
other surviving crew members carried over 140 Vietnamese
orphans to safety from the wreckage. The orphans were References can be found on The United States of America Vietnam War
being transported to the United States from Vietnam as a Commemoration website http://www.vietnamwar50th.com/education/.
part of Operation Babylift. 1Lt Aune was the first woman to * Women other than nurses were promoted to general/flag rank in the early
VietnamANC_ANC-VN-5.jpg: National Archives
be awarded the Air Force’s Cheney Award for her heroic and 1970’s. See the Service Women in Vietnam poster.